1. Field of the Invention
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an image capturing device and method and, more particularly, to an image capturing device and a method that can improve the ability to sense an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, it has become popular for differing devices to be equipped with high-resolution cameras, such as personal digital assistants, digital cameras, and camera phones. Such devices with a camera typically include a lens and an image sensor.
Here, the lens is responsible for condensing light reflected from a subject, and the image sensor is responsible for sensing light condensed by the lens and converting the sensed light into electrical image signals. The image sensor can be classified as an image pickup tube or a solid-state image sensor, with representative examples of the solid-state image sensor including a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS).
Furthermore, in such a camera, the image sensor may include a Color Filter Array (CFA), that is, an arrangement of color filters corresponding to respective pixels. An infrared blocking filter is formed on the CFA in order to prevent a change in the color of an image attributable to the infrared sensitivity of the image sensor.
In this case, the infrared blocking filter, the color filter array, and the image sensor are integrated into a single module, and the infrared blocking filter is formed so as to be spaced apart from the image sensor by a predetermined distance.
Meanwhile, with this arrangement, a problem occurs in that the ability to sense a captured image decreases rapidly when the size of a Contact Image Sensor (CIS) does not increase as the number of effective pixels increases. An increase in the number of pixels for a CIS having a limited size means that the density of image sensors in the CIS increases. Consequently, the amount of light that reaches each pixel actually decreases.
Japanese Unexamined Pat. Application No. 2004-304706 discusses a solid-state pickup and processing device, in which, in green, blue, red, and white filter segments, white filters are disposed in top, bottom, left and right directions with respect to the green color. However, this solid-state pickup device relates to a technology for ensuring the amount of signal charge and resolution and improving color reproduction capability, despite the reduction in the size of pixels, and does not prevent the above problems of decreases in the ability to sense an image, as attributable to the decreased size of the pixels.